Arktos [antikvár]

Preface Because of my interest in the Harmony of the Spheres, over the years I have read widely in that unclassifiahle corner of literature sometimes described as "metaphysical," "esoteric," or "occult." In its earlier stages, my search was mainly for musical allusions and for understanding of their context. Later, when several themes forced themselves on me by sheer repetition from one text to another, I began to note them whenever I came across them, and the field of my research expanded commensurably. One of these recurrent themes was the Pole. I came to it first because an interest in theories of the Harmony of the Spheres involves one in questions of cosmology, astronomy, and to a lesser extent astrology. Beside the more obvious themes that relate directly to the musical system, such as the twelve signs of the zodiac and the seven visible planets, I was struck by the repeated mention of some mystery concerning the poles, both those of the earth and of the heavens. Almost every major writer had something to say about it. Once I started to concentrate on the polar theme, I quickly found that there was a school of thought which held that the earth's poles had shifted in the past, with significant results for whatever creatures were inhabiting it. Likewise, a group of authorities—more occult than scientific, in this instance—^warned that the poles would shortly be shifting again. The investigation of this topic became the starting-point for the present book, and constitutes one of its major themes. The short first part (Chapters 1-2) oudines the situation that supposedly obtained before the poles shifted, which is closely allied to the mythology of a lost Golden Age. One of the supposed results of a "non-shifted" pole, according to several sources, was that the Hyperborean or Arctic regions were formerly fit for human habitation. What manner of people lived there, and what has become of them? Asking these questions led me into waters that became progressively deeper and more perilous, and I have tried to replicate my experience in the arrangement of Part Two, "The Northern Lights." Step by step, it moves from theories of the Arctic, Aryan or Nordic race to the point at which respectable science discarded the idea, leaving it to be picked up and used as a political weapon by the pseudo-scientists of the Third Reich.